Bookmarked: Interesting Finds From The World Of Product Design

Here’s a roundup of some design focussed stories, opinion pieces and videos that I’ve enjoyed lately:

THE STATE OF HARDWARE FUNDING IN 2017

“The way in which you run a business is more important than the amount of money you raise. Large rounds of funding prior to product/market fit often lead companies to overspend in many tiny ways. Capital efficiency matters. As the outcomes above show, an early feedback loop with customers usually yields better outcomes.”

INSIDE THE DOWNFALL OF DOPPLER LABS

I came across this post from David Pierce on Wired about the downfall of Doppler Labs. This “hardware is hard” excuse has to stop. The world has been designing and mass manufacturing products for well over a century now with pretty good success. Some hardware start-ups and their investors can be so impatient and over-expectant that they simultaneously overspend and take shortcuts and as a result, drive themselves into the ground.

BRILLIANTLY USELESS PRODUCT DESIGNS

I had a good laugh when I discovered “The Uncomfortable” on the Bored Panda blog. It’s a collection of deliberately inconvenient everyday objects by Athens-based architect Katerina Kamprani. My favourite useless product design has to be #11 Inflatable Door Knob. What’s yours?

“Japan’s Shinkansen don’t look like your typical train. They’re fast — so fast they coined the term “bullet train” — with long, pointed noses that let them reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. But these Japanese trains didn’t always look like this. Earlier models were rounder and louder; they often suffered from the phenomenon of “tunnel boom,” where deafening compressed air would rush out of a tunnel after a train rushed in. A moment of inspiration from engineer and birdwatcher Eiji Nakatsu changed all that.